1. Technical Field
This invention relates to electronic components and, more particularly, to a device for making electrical connection to a plurality of pins in a male connector.
2. Discussion
Electrical cables are used in a variety of applications to transmit electrical signals from different sources to an equally wide variety of destinations. The cables generally include a plurality of individual wires which terminate at one end in either a male connector or a female connector. The male connector typically employs a series of pins which are housed in a shell that mate with sockets in the female connector.
Systems with cables often require conditioning and/or filtering of input signals in order to meet performance specifications or obtain certain input features. The physical implementation of this conditioning often requires installation of various electrical components between wires or between wires and ground at the input to an electrical circuit. For example, it is common practice to require capacitors or zener diodes at inputs between each wire and the system ground to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI). Analogously, digital circuits often require "pull-up" resistors between some wires and ground or other wires at cable inputs and outputs.
Currently, such input conditioning is accomplished in several ways. The most common way is to include the extra components on the circuit card onto which the cable input terminates. This method consumes valuable circuit board space and often causes interface problems (e.g., it lets EMI onto the circuit card instead of stopping it at the cable input). In addition, this method makes it impractical to modify the input conditioning of existing hardware since the circuit card must be replaced, an expensive proposition. Another method to implement shunt input conditioning is to include the conditioning components in a specially designed cable connector as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,852,700 to Haws and 3,670,292 to Sorenson. This method is also expensive for retrofits and requires the use of nonstandard connector parts. Another way to accomplish input conditioning is to install a special circuit card with conditioning components between the cable termination and the system device- or circuit card. One embodiment of this method is to place the circuit card on the back side of a connector where the wires are soldered or crimped to the connector pins; this requires that the special circuit card be installed prior to assembling the wires to the connector, or that the connector be completely dissembled prior to installation. This method is also expensive for retrofits and takes up valuable space inside the system. None of these methods place the interface circuitry within the readily accessible gap between a standard unmodified pre-existing connector pair.
Thus, there is a need for an input conditioning method that does not alter the system circuit card, does not take up any valuable space in the system, and which can be easily, inexpensively and quickly retrofitted into existing systems. It is also envisioned that there exists a need to provide a relatively simple, yet reliable technique for easily coupling electrical circuits to the pins in such connectors. The electrical circuits could consist of active or passive electronic components, as well as more sophisticated microprocessors. Despite this need, it does not appear that the prior art has proposed an eloquently simple solution to the problem in the manner suggested by the present invention.